Zachary Silver: Athletic Dept. must find safe solution for fans

Last week, the NCAA published a report examining violence at sporting events and the results simply cemented what was already clear.

Fans revert to violence at athletic events for a variety of reasons -- some psychological, some dealing with the sociological impulse to bond through a collective act. And, after all, destruction has turned into a tradition in many places when fans celebrate.

Or maybe destruction is logical.

After all, it makes sense that Minnesota fans rioted after their team won the NCAA Hockey Championship in April.

Nothing showcases the Golden Gopher nation quite like an inferno of cars and broken windows.

This is not an isolated incident, nor is it reserved to teams in power conferences.

The NCAA has many deficiencies, but it is continually impressive in laying out how its member institutions have gone wrong.

While those examples posited from the summit may be extreme, they begin with an issue close to Penn fans' hearts.

Last spring, Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky assembled a professional and student panel to discuss creating a new tradition, one to replace tearing down a goalpost after winning the Ivy League championship.

With Al Bagnoli at the helm of the Penn football program, students have had plenty of opportunities to go after Franklin Field's east goalpost -- in Bagnoli's 11 years as head coach, the Quakers have won five Ivy League championships. Expect another one this year.

Bilsky and the Athletic Department know what to expect -- that's why they sank the goalposts in cement in 1998. As illustrated last year, they are not going to come down, no matter how many people jump on them.

"In the end, it's now more clear than ever, not that there ever was any doubt, that safety considerations will win out," Bilsky said, referring to the report. "That means that if there is any behavior that takes a risk where anyone can get hurt, that behavior's going to be eliminated."

People get hurt tearing down goalposts. Case closed. There's no chance that the University is going to condone the practice or install retractable posts to make the process supposedly more safe.

The Athletic Department has established what people cannot do after the Quakers win the Ivy League football title, but that isn't enough.

It must give an option for some form of celebration.

Last year's melee at the east end of Franklin Field after the Quakers' victory over Harvard was sheer chaos -- nothing organized about it.

People rushed the goalposts because they thought that was what they were supposed to do, and nothing short of pepper spray and police brutality was going to stop them.

There has to be an alternative.

Nine years ago, the Athletic Department took the reins of the annual basketball "line" for season tickets, so evidently institutionalized fun is possible.

It will be a tough task to find a way to channel the adrenaline rush of tearing down goalposts.

But the Athletic Department has the obligation to provide an outlet for its fans if it is not going to permit the posts to come down.

Undergraduate Assembly Chairman Jason Levy said that he has not been contacted this semester by the Athletic Department about suitable alternatives to the goalpost controversy. This is a major problem, as the UA was one of the major players in the new tradition task force last year.

Bilsky and the Athletic Department must continue this process. It is a long-term issue that is spiked with controversy, and the Penn administration has the responsibility to find an outlet.

As seen with the "line," channeled enjoyment is possible, and even the ideal in some cases. It just takes time for fans to become accustomed to the change. Traditions change, and this one, in particular, must.

An alternative to tearing down goalposts may not eliminate the madness in mid-November. But this is a long-term issue, and it certainly could help.

It's time to start worrying about what will happen when Penn beats Cornell to lock up the Ivy League Championship on Nov. 22.

Tradition states that fans are supposed to storm the goalposts, and without at least an attempt at an alternative, the Athletic Department is condoning chaos.

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